End of season cruise

It was great to have a good excuse to take another short cruise at the end of the summer.  Our friends Bill and Kati from Annapolis came to visit us and other friends of theirs.  They spent their first night in Maine at our house, and the next morning, Tuesday September 16, Bill and Jenny and I sailed  from Freeport to Boothbay Harbor-- well, really their friends’ cottage on Linekin Bay. Kati had a nice day of touring and drove to the cottage, while we sailed to meet her.  

We did not have much breeze, but it was still a nice trip.  It was about a 32 n. mile course, and we arrived well before dinner time.  The wind came up in the afternoon, so we sailed with the engine off for about an hour or so.  Then we motor-sailed the rest of the way. The route took us between Seguin Island and Ellingwood Rock, which made for a scenic diversion.

We arrived at the cottage of Bill’s friends Doug and Kristina in the late afternoon and took their mooring right off their dock.  

We did not provision very well but it was no problem since we came into the cottage every day to visit and see the sights.  Doug and Kristina were lovely hosts. We had take-out pizza and great hors d'oeuvres from our hosts the first night, and had fun doing tourist things the next few day, with some breakfasts and dinners out.  Jenny and I took a nice hike around the local lily pond.

On Thursday, Jenny and I sailed to Damariscove Island, while Bill and Kati came a little later in their friends’ center console boat.  The cove at Damariscove is small with a couple of moorings provided by the Conservation Trust that manages the Island.  The summer caretaker was gone for the season. The Island has a very interesting history that follows the story of European settlement of the New World. 

 

It was a hot day for our walk around the Island, then the fog came in, which made Bill and Kati’s trip back to Boothbay a bit adventurous.  Jenny and I had a delicious lobster one-pot mac ‘n cheese for dinner, with fresh broccoli we brought from our garden.

 

A mild cold front came through over night, so we had a beautiful day of sailing most of the way back to Freeport.  The wind got a little on the nose for the trip up Broad Sound, so that was a motor-sail. We arrived in the late afternoon, and put everything away efficiently, including the dinghy.

We have visited with Bill and Kati many times over the years, and they are good friends.  The last time they are mentioned in this blog is from 2017 when we visited and sailed with them in the Bahamas.